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Ebook Best-Seller Prices Plummet to Below $8.00 as Retailers Get Set to Start Discounting Macmillan Titles

The average price of an ebook best-seller has dropped to a new all-time low as less expensive big-six titles crowded the list, joining self-published works in the lowest price bracket. The downward pricing shift could continue as retailers prepare for discounting Macmillan ebook titles following the publishers’ settlement with the U.S. government over the matter of alleged ebook price-fixing.

The average price of an ebook best-seller is now $7.56, driven mostly by deep discounting of the best-selling Beautiful Creatures series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (Hachette). Four of the top-25 best-selling ebooks from last week are titles from the series priced at $2.99. As recently as last week, Beautiful Creatures, the first book in the series, was selling for $5.80. The previous low was $7.66 the week of Jan. 19.

The shift in pricing for the series means that eight of the top-25 books from last week are priced below $3.00. It’s the highest number of titles that price band has ever had on this list. Further, there are only seven titles on the list priced $10 and above — a pricing category that until a few months ago dominated this best-seller list.

Eight is a key number this week, as it’s how many titles Hachette has on the list. For the first time since we started tracking ebook best-sellers, the publisher has the most titles in our top-25, supplanting long-time leader Random House, which has seven this week. However, if Penguin, soon to be merged with Random House, were combined with Random House, the uber-publisher would have ten titles on the list, the most among publishers and a full 40% of best-selling ebooks.

“Beautiful” is a key word this week, as five the top-25 best-selling ebooks either have “beautiful” or “beauty” in their titles. Four are, of course, part of the Hachette series. The other is Beauty From Pain, a self-published ebook by Georgia Cates, clocking in at No. 9 this week.

See the rest of the the best-seller lists for the week ending Feb. 17:

American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History

Chris Kyle; Scott McEwen; Jim DeFelice

HarperCollins

$ 8.07

-11

15 (14)

Fifty Shades Freed: Book Three of the Fifty Shades Trilogy

E. L. James

Random House

$ 9.99

-1

16 (12)

Fifty Shades Of Grey: Book One Of The Fifty Shades Trilogy

E. L. James

Random House

$ 9.99

-4

17 (25)

Beautiful Chaos (Beautiful Creatures)

Kami Garcia; Margaret Stohl

Hachette

$ 2.99

+8

18 (16)

Fifty Shades Darker: Book Two Of The Fifty Shades Trilogy

E. L. James

Random House

$ 9.99

-2

19 (15)

The Forgotten

David Baldacci

Hachette

$ 9.99

-4

20 (13)

Heartsong: A Novel

Debbie Macomber

Random House

$ 2.99

-7

21 (20)

Alex Cross, Run

James Patterson

Hachette

$ 11.99

-1

22 (8)

Crazy Little Thing

Tracy Brogan

Amazon

$ 3.99

-14

23 (18)

Suspect

Robert Crais

Penguin

$ 12.99

-5

24 (n/a)

Only The Innocent

Rachel Abbott

Amazon

$ 2.99

New

25 (n/a)

A Week in Winter

Maeve Binchy

Random House

$ 12.99

New

* Previous week’s list rank in parentheses.
** Price reflects minimum price across all retailers throughout the week. Price may vary between retailers and may change throughout the week. Contact Iobyte Solutions for more information on e-book pricing.
Methodology available here.